Jeremias 30:3

3 Howl, O Esebon, for Gai has perished; cry, ye daughters of Rabbath, gird yourselves with sack-clothes, and lament; for Melchol shall go into banishment, his priests and his princes together.

Jeremias 30:3 Meaning and Commentary

Jeremiah 30:3

For, lo, the days come, saith the Lord
And they are yet to come; the prophecy is not yet fulfilled. Kimchi says this belongs to the days of the Messiah; but not to his first coming, or to his coming in the flesh, which the Jews vainly expect; but to his spiritual coming in the latter day: that I will bring again the captivity of my people Israel and Judah,
saith the Lord;
which cannot be understood of their return from the Babylonish captivity; for, as Kimchi rightly observes, only Judah and Benjamin returned from thence; and though there were some few of the other tribes that came with them, especially of the tribe of Levi, yet not sufficient to answer to so great a prophecy as this, which refers to the same time as that in ( Hosea 3:5 ) ; as appears by comparing that with ( Jeremiah 30:9 ) ; and when, as the Apostle Paul says, "all Israel shall be saved", ( Romans 11:25 ) ; and I will cause them to return to the land that I gave to their
fathers, and they shall possess it;
the land of Canaan, given to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; and which shall be again by the Jews their posterity; for, without that the Jews upon their call and conversion shall return to their own land, in a literal sense, I see not how we can understand this, and many other prophecies.

Jeremias 30:3 In-Context

1 CONCERNING THE SONS OF AMMON thus saith the Lord, Are there no sons in Israel? or have they no one to succeed ? wherefore has Melchol inherited Galaad, and why shall their people dwell in their cities?

2 Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the Lord, when I will cause to be heard in Rabbath a tumult of wars; and they shall become a waste and ruined place, and her altars shall be burned with fire; then shall Israel succeed to his dominion.

3 Howl, O Esebon, for Gai has perished; cry, ye daughters of Rabbath, gird yourselves with sack-clothes, and lament; for Melchol shall go into banishment, his priests and his princes together.

4 Why do ye exult in the plains of the Enakim, thou haughty daughter, that trustest in treasures, that sayest, Who shall come in to me?

5 Behold, I bring terror upon thee, saith the Lord, from all the country round about thee; and ye shall be scattered every one right before him, and there is none to gather you.